Before Wednesday’s Game 5 of the National League Championship Series, with the season on the line, starting pitcher Zack Greinke was trying to make fantasy football trades. His teammates were doing their usual pregame routine of playing dominoes and cards.

It sure didn’t seem like an elimination game was on deck.

And now the Dodgers, already full of confidence, know they can do this. They know they can advance to the World Series.

They’ve suddenly got power – via four home runs in their 6-4 Game 5 win over the Cardinals on Wednesday – and perhaps the best thing of all in ace Clayton Kershaw.

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No pep talk from Dodgers manager Don Mattingly necessary. He did that after Game 4 by walking through the clubhouse and telling players they were going to play in a Game 7.

The Dodgers can win this series and they know it. They’re two wins away from their first World Series appearance in 25 years, as improbable as that seemed when St. Louis took a 2-0 lead despite the Dodgers throwing Zack Greinke and Kershaw in those games.

Armed with a momentum-swinging victory and hits and runs, the Dodgers can do this.

They rebounded from a disastrous start and turned the season around with a 42-8 run. Suddenly, two more victories doesn’t seem so daunting.

“Well, we know we have a good team,” said outfielder Carl Crawford, who has four postseason home runs after just six in the regular season. “We know what we have in the clubhouse. We believe in ourselves. We trust one another.

“To be honest with you, guys weren’t ready to lose (Wednesday). We have to take it one game at a time.”

This is an elimination game for the Dodgers. If they lose Friday, their season is done.

But if the Dodgers are going to lose this series, they’re going to do it having fun.

They seem loose, relaxed and energized, and that’s not just Yasiel Puig. Strangely enough, Adrian Gonzalez is now carrying the celebration torch for the Dodgers.

Gonzalez flashed Mickey Mouse ears after his first home run Wednesday in response to pitcher Adam Wainwright’s annoyance with the Dodgers’ celebrations after hits. Wainwright called it “Mickey Mouse.”

And Gonzalez gave him a dose of Disney.

“Other teams are going to do whatever they need to do in order to prepare themselves and have their guys ready,” said Cardinals manager Mike Matheny in a news conference Wednesday in St. Louis.

The Dodgers bullpen can do this too. Once a weakness for the Dodgers – remember the Brandon League closer experiment? – the bullpen is now a strength. If starters can go seven innings – a la Greinke in Game 5 – and the Dodgers get to Brian Wilson, an August addition who has thrown six shutout innings in the postseason, and closer Kenley Jansen, all is well.

Jansen made it an eventful ninth inning Wednesday, allowing two runs on four hits, but he still got the job done.

“I don’t care about the stats,” Jansen said. “We’re just trying to get 11 wins so we can get a ring.”

If Kershaw (0.47 ERA in the playoffs) can give the Dodgers one of his usual gems, Hanley Ramirez can stay in the lineup and get a hit or two despite the broken rib on his left side, and Hyun-Jin Ryu can pitch like he did in Game 3 – seven shutout innings – the Dodgers have a shot at winning the NLCS.

The Dodgers have five postseason wins and resiliency, something no statistic can measure.

“We were the worst team in the league … June 22,” Jansen said. “We were the worst team. We stunk so bad. We never quit. We always have that in us. We keep fighting. (Down) 3-1, you can’t worry about that. You’ve got to look at the positive. You’ve got Greinke and Kershaw and then (Hyun-Jin) Ryu.”

Mattingly is even calling the Dodgers “America’s Team.” Everyone wants a Game 7, even Cardinals fans, he joked.